


the world looks so much brighter, with you by my side

by carrotsuno



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Crushes, F/M, Gift Giving, I just want them both to be happy, No Spoilers, Valentine's Day, Yachi likes Hatsune Miku, Yamaguchi likes Yachi a lot<3, chocolate is mentioned 39 times, he just wants her to be happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:54:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22719487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carrotsuno/pseuds/carrotsuno
Summary: Yamaguchi Tadashi has a huge debilitating crush on Yachi Hitoka.Yamaguchi Tadashi however, is also too shy to confess to her …maybe, with a little self belief, this valentine's day can give him the opportunity he needs to let her know just how much she means to him.
Relationships: Yachi Hitoka/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 10
Kudos: 45





	the world looks so much brighter, with you by my side

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LilweenGalatrass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilweenGalatrass/gifts).



> For May!  
> The crazy auntie of the orange court<3 Happy Valentines Day 💕🦉
> 
> Part of The Orange Court's Valentine's Day exchange 2020 
> 
> Link to [Yamaguchi's Mixtape!!](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7zdO25qtb4jjXqBWr6IWBW?si=G5GlgBvwS862ZOrnpLjfFw) it probably makes more sense to listen to it after the fic as then you are hearing it just like Yachi!

**13年 2月 4日**

**4** New messages from : **Study Buddies** :

> **_RollingThunder_ **⚡️
> 
> _Gentlemen, we have exactly 1 month till the start of exams. And I have a project that we need to study seriously for! I will see you in the club room at exactly 13:00 hours._
> 
> **_Chikorita_ **🍃
> 
> _Noya-san, this better be about your overdue English project, because if it isn’t I will get Coach to remove you from practice till you have finished it._
> 
> ☀️🌞☀️
> 
> _OOOOOHHHOOHHOHOH!!!!!!!!!!! DO I NEED TO BRING MY MATH HOMEWORK??????_ ＼ _( >o<) _／
> 
> **_RollingThunder_ **⚡️
> 
> _This is more important than homework! This is about the spring of our youth! (•̀ᴗ•́)_ و _̑̑_

Yamaguchi sighed, he wished he could leave the study group chat. However, the burden to help his friends pass their exams was stronger than his desire for peace. He reluctantly made his way to the club room to see what all the fuss was about. The ‘study buddies’ group consisted of Nishinoya, Tanaka, Hinata, Kageyama, Ennoshita, Kinoshita, Narita, Yamaguchi, _not_ Tsukishima, and when she was free from the art club: Yachi.

Yamaguchi could already hear Tanaka and Hinata’s laughter halfway up the stairs to the club room. There was a sign on the door that covered the window, it read “Boys Only.” Yamaguchi raised his eyebrows. He prepared himself for the nonsense he was about to be faced with, and reluctantly slided the door open.

“Quiet in my classroom!” Nishinoya pointed at Hinata with a ruler. He looked up at the doorway and spotted Yamaguchi. “Yamaguchi-san! Please take a seat.”

Yamaguchi looked around the room. Everybody was sat in rows making the room feel like a classroom. In the centre of the room, Nishinoya had wheeled in the large whiteboard they used in the gym, it was currently flipped around. Hinata tried his best to hold in a giggle, Yamaguchi sat on the floor next to him. Kageyama wasn’t there, but that wasn’t unusual. Yachi hadn’t arrived either, but Yamaguchi had a sinking feeling that she was better off heeding the signs warning.

“Hey, Hinata-kun,” Yamaguchi smiled. “How did you find yesterday’s math homework? Did you manage to complete it? You didn’t message me last night for any help.”

“UUUUHhhhh.” Hinata hummed. “I left all my math books at school last night, because I didn’t understand it.” He shrugged, with a smile. “But I did make progress on my animal crossing town if you want to visit it!” He added excitedly.

“Children!” Nishinoya yelled in his best teacher voice. “No talking in my class please. This is no joke.” He cleared his throat. “Now that the majority of us are present, Tanaka-san and I will begin to present to you why we are all here today.” Tanaka stood up to join Nishinoya at the whiteboard.

“Drum roll please!” Tanaka called out. Hinata, Kinoshita, and Narita drummed their hands on the floor.

Tanaka, and Nishinoya dramatically flipped the whiteboard over to reveal the words.

**Project 2•14: Operation get Kiyoko-san to fall in love with us (and give us true love chocolates!)**

Ennoshita groaned, he slammed his head in his hands. “We’re all going to fail our exams at this rate.”

“Ennoshita-san, please! Listen to Nishinoya-sensei.” Tanaka pleaded.

“This is the last year Kiyoko-san will be at school as us.” Nishinoya’s voice was serious, looking at everyone in the room. “This is the final valentine’s day for her to give us true love chocolates. Nothing is better than the taste of homemade honmei chocolates.” he emphasised by raising his voice.

“OOhhhh!” Hinata rubbed his belly. “I want to taste honmei chocolates!” he closed his eyes licking his lips to imagine the taste.

“If we all work together as a team, we can taste delicious chocolate together.” Tanaka exclaimed, his face bright with anticipation. “This is the last chance for Kiyoko-san to confess to one of us, we have to do everything we can to maximise our effort in the next 10 days. This year graduation lands before white day.”

“No white day, no wife!” Nishinoya added in, slapping the whiteboard to stress the importance of his point. “If we work together, Kiyoko-san has to marry one of us.” he beamed.

Ennoshita huffed again exasperated, causing Kinoshita and Narita to snigger.

“We need everyone’s brain power, to make our plan work.” Tanaka pulled out a notepad and pen from his bag. “We will now be taking suggestions from the audience.” He pointed to Yamaguchi. “Young Yamaguchi-san, master of mathematics, what are your suggestions for a chance at true love?”

Yamaguchi blushed, feeling the pressure of being called on in class. “Can’t you just talk to Kiyoko-san?” he suggested quietly. “Don’t you think it’s a lot of pressure that girls have to give a gift. Wouldn’t it be easier for all of us to give her chocolates on valentine’s day to thank her for everything she’s done in the club?” His words were met by two dumbfounded faces.

“No! Yamaguchi-kun!” Nishinoya jumped, distressed. “We have to respect the rules of valentine’s. It’s very important that she chooses one of us.” he slammed his hand on Tanaka’s shoulder being dramatic. “This is true love we’re talking about! It’s now or never.”

There was a pause of thought in the room. Kinoshita spoke up gently, “I agree with Yamaguchi-san a little, this time of year is very stressful. We should work together to not burden Kiyoko-san too much, and instead help her be less stressed.”

Nishinoya deflated a little. “I guess Kino-san has a point.” he began to sadly clean the whiteboard.

“Don’t be too disappointed Noya-san!” Tanaka had an idea. “If we do kind things for Kiyoko-san, helping her out and stuff, we still have a chance to speak to her, and that’s bound to convince her to fall in love with at least one of us.” his eyes were sparkling with hope.

“If you passed your exams, then Kiyoko-san, and the rest of us, would feel less stressed.” Ennoshita added jokingly.

“Really! Do you think she will marry me if I pass my exams!” Tanaka’s eyes were sparkling. “But that means I have to study.” he was disheartened again.

“I don’t want to study.” Nishinoya pouted sadly. “I just want to eat chocolate.”

“I would like to study.” Yamaguchi mumbled, looking at his watch. He was a little anxious about wanting to catch Tsukishima before class started, so he could look over his homework answers. “So if it’s ok, I’m going to leave now.”

Yamaguchi left the club room, with the boys discussing a plan for them to pass their exams without studying.

Yamaguchi made his way down the stairs from the club room, and spotted Yachi on her way up. “Oh!” he flustered, stopping half way. “Yachi-san.”

“Good afternoon, Yamaguchi-kun.” she waved up at him. “Are we not studying today?” she questioned. “I saw the messages in the study group chat but, I didn’t understand what was going on.” she giggled, making Yamaguchi blush at how cute she was.

Yamaguchi nervously glanced back at the club room. “Uhhmm…” he paused, a little embarrassed to explain why it was best she stayed away. “…they’re planning on how to convince Kiyoko-san to give them honmei chocolates for valentines day.” 

She laughed a little louder. “Of course they are.” 

Yamaguchi took the final steps to meet her at the bottom of the stairs to meet her. 

“Yamaguchi-kun, do you want to study in the art room together?” she asked tentatively, blushing at the request.

Yamaguchi’s breathing faltered a little. He tried to remember how to exhale. Yamaguchi had come to the horrible realisation that he had a crush on Yachi a few months ago. And since that late night realisation, he’d not been able to act like a sane human being around her. It was really becoming a problem. Not that he was any good with social interaction in the first place, but this just made it worse. And especially seeing how cute she looked today. Yamaguchi had no idea how much time had passed, and he was worried his face was turning blue since he hadn’t taken a breath this whole time imagining him, and Yachi, sat in the art room studying, _together_.

“That would be great.” he finally stuttered out. “I would like someone to go over question 4 with me. I don’t think I did it right.”

Yachi smiled sheepishly, holding the door to the main building open for him. “I couldn’t find the answer. I was hoping you might know.”

“Oh no.” he laughed bashfully, “We’re as bad as the others.”

As they walked the stairs to the top floor art room, Yamaguchi began to think about the others in the clubroom. Kiyoko-san was beautiful, she was kind, and truly incredible, and he did like her. But she just wasn’t as cute as Yachi. She didn’t make him feel the way Yachi did. It made him sad to think that everyone was ignoring her, why did no one else want to make a fuss of Yachi? Yachi was smart, she was brilliant! She deserved homemade chocolates.

“Hey Yachi-san,” Yamaguchi’s voice echoed up the stairwell, Yachi was two steps ahead of him. “What do you think of valentine’s day?” He looked over towards her.

“Hmmm.” Yachi’s thought resonated against the walls. “Well,” she considered. “I like it.” her face reddened as she stalled on the midway landing, looking out of the window to everyone outside. “I know it’s rather corny but, I think it’s nice. Everyone just seems happier.” she turned and smiled at Yamaguchi. “My friends in the art club have all been excitedly talking about where they’re going on dates with their boyfriends. I’ve never had a date myself,” her voice was tinged with sadness. “Oh, but I don’t mind.” she added quickly, stuttering over her words, her cheeks bright red. “Really, I don’t.” she shuffled her feet. “Valentine’s is a nice distraction from exams, and graduation. There’s so many endings at this time of year. It’s nice to see the start of something new.” she smiled fondly at Yamaguchi, and began to laugh. “The start of something new! Like High School Musical.” she exclaimed. “It was on tv at the weekend did you see it?”

Yamaguchi shamefully nodded his head, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeh, I watched it too. I really loved High School Musical as a kid. I still have the CDs at home.”

“I love it, it’s so fun.” she giggled, and scampered up the remaining stairs, holding the door open waiting for Yamaguchi. Yachi leant against the door, looking in her bag to find her keys to open the art room. “I love going back and listening to stuff I liked as a child, because now I can mostly understand the words. I love realising what they’re saying, don’t you?” she smiled jingling her keys. 

_I just love listening to you…_ Yamaguchi kept that to himself. Trying his best to not blush.

\--

Yamaguchi finally flopped onto his bed after arriving home. Practice tonight had been longer than usual. Since the spring tournament, the team had been trying to learn as much as they could from the third year's before they graduated. It was bittersweet that they still helped out on an evening practice, it made Yamaguchi more emotional than he’d let on. Yamaguchi was tired, but he knew that he should start reading the past exam papers for English, considering he’d agreed to help Hinata and Kageyama go through it tomorrow lunch time. He rubbed his eyes, finding his papers, and set them down on his desk. Yamaguchi liked to work to music, it eased the anxiety that silence brought him. Staring at his bookshelf of CDs, one caught his eye. The High School Musical soundtrack. He let out a laugh fondly, remembering his conversation with Yachi from earlier. Tsukishima had been on at him to downsize the ‘embarrassing’ CDs in his collection, but Yamaguchi didn’t have the heart to get rid of any of them. 

Yamaguchi pressed play on his CD player, and sat down at his desk with the lyric booklet in his hands, but as Troy and Gabriella started singing, Yachi was right, he really could understand a lot more of what they were saying than he did before. 

_“I know that something has changed, never felt this way,”_

“Oh no,” Yamaguchi started blushing, as the song continued. The words hit a little too close to home. The only thing on his mind was Yachi. Her smile, her laugh, the way her face had blushed all the way down her neck that one time he called her Hitoka-san after the Spring Tournament. His stomach flipped, spinning the hot pot he ate for dinner around like it was in a washing machine.

_“And the world looks so much brighter, with you by my side.”_

Yamaguchi curled into a ball on his chair, scrunching his eyes up. “The world is so much brighter with Yachi in it.” 

_“It feels so right to be here with you_

_And now, looking in your eyes, I feel in my heart_

_The start of something new.”_

**13年 2月 5日**

Lunchtime in class 3, Yamaguchi’s least favourite study group spot. The first year study buddies had decided on studying in Kageyama’s classroom during some lunch breaks in the week, it was the quietest room to study in. The four of them could discuss the work without disturbing students who actually wanted to cram study during the break. The reason why it was Yamaguchi’s least favourite room, was due to Hinata being incredibly distracted in any room other than his own classroom. However, the distraction curse had landed on Yamaguchi’s shoulders this afternoon. 

Yamaguchi had had ‘The Start of Something New’ swirling around his head ever since he woke up. It didn’t help that Yachi was sat in front of a window. The afternoon winter sunshine glowed behind her, illuminating her silhouette with a golden heavenly aura. Yamaguchi sat, with his head rested on his hand. Dreamily distracted by Yachi’s presence, he watched the light twinkle through her crystal stars on her hair tie.

“I’m so hungryyyyyy.” Hinata wailed. He slammed his forehead head on the desk, breaking Yamaguchi’s peaceful moment. “I reaaaallllyyyy want some honmei chocolates.”

Yachi sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Please try to concentrate, Hinata-kun.” They had only been studying the english language past paper for 15 minutes.

“You’re a really good tutor, Yachi-sensei, but, aaaaaaaa.” Hinata lamented, stretching his arms out across the desk. “I can’t stop thinking about eating valentine’s chocolate.”

“Chocolate, I want.” Kageyama spoke in english. The deadpan voice Kageyama spoke with in english always amused Yamaguchi.

Yachi closed her eyes to compose herself back into teacher mode. “Your pronunciation is getting better Kageyama-kun, but it would be _“I want chocolate.”_ ” She tried her best to correct him.

“I want chocolate, _tooooooo_ .” Hinata, repeated in english rocking back in his chair. “I want chocolate _now._ ” 

Yamaguchi heard Tsukishima’s sniggers from behind him. “Are you idiots still talking about valentine’s day? Tsk.” he smirked, staring Hinata and Kageyama down. “You realise no girl is ever gonna make you honmei chocolate. You might as well make some for each other.”

Hinata slammed his chair legs back down, and Kageyama scowled. Neither of them were quick enough to find a comeback, which caused Tsukishima to let out a loud laugh.

“Hey Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima placed his hand on the back of Yamaguchi’s chair. He looked down at him, his expression changed into a friendly one, for Yamaguchi’s eyes only. “You wanna get some lunch together?” he asked. “It’s useless teaching these dipshits in the first place neither of them are gonna pass.” his snarky smile returned, he shot it in Hinata and Kageyama’s direction.

Before Yamaguchi could respond, Hinata cut Tsukishima off, in english shouting. “I want…?” he looked at Yachi for reassurance, Yachi nodded for him to continue. “I want to pass exam!” He exclaimed, his cheeks were red from annoyance.

Tsukishima threw his head back in a laugh, pushing his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. “Good luck losers.” he taunted. “Guess I’ll catch you later Yamaguchi.” he left them to it.

“That’s it.” Kageyama called out, “I can’t study on an empty stomach any longer.” Kageyama opened his desk to pull out a secret bento full of onigiri.

“Waaaaa!” Hinata exclaimed, “Share with me!” he opened his mouth like a baby bird waiting to be fed.

“No, piss off boke.” Kageyama shoved Hinata hard, it nearly knocked him out of his chair.

Yachi, sat back, and dropped her pencil. She had truly lost control of the study session. “I don’t want to become a teacher anymore.” she spoke defeated under her breath.

Yamaguchi laughed to himself. As much as he hated the feeling of wasting time in the run up to exam season, he had to admit these study sessions entertained him the most.

Hinata sadly rubbed his empty belly, eyeing up Kageyama’s onigiri. “Tsukki is right,” he pouted. “A girl will never make me any honmei chocolates.”

“I could make you some Hinata-kun.” Yachi proposed.

All three boys stared at her, open mouthed. The room fell into silence. Yamaguchi felt a wave of jealousy rise within him.

“A,,aha,h,aii,,I,I,,I,N- n-” Yachi stammered, the weight of her words finally dawned on her. Her face flooded bright red. She crossed her arms in front of her. “No noonono, I mean,” she squeaked out her words, “I’ll make the whole team giri valentine’s chocolates.” Yachi exhaled wearily, her soul leaving her exhausted body. “I can make the whole team chocolates for valentine’s day.”

“Really!” Hinata jumped from his seat. “You’ll really make us handmade chocolates????”

“That’s what she just said, moron.” Kageyama munched on the last bite of his onigiri.

“Yes, Hinata-kun.” Yachi fidgeted her hands stressed. “I could ask Kiyoko-san to help me.” before she could add more to her sentence, Hinata jumped out of his skin.

“Kiyoko-san?!” Hinata shrieked. His cheeks turned shocking pink. “I need to tell Noya-san!”

Hinata raced out of the room, and down the corridor as fast as he would in the middle of a match.

Yamaguchi could feel the anxiety that radiated out from Yachi.

“Well, if he’s leaving, I’m going to get some milk.” Kageyama pulled his cow print coin purse from his bag, stood from the desks, and left the room.

Yachi face planted her textbook, “I wish I didn’t have a voice sometimes.” she mumbled. “Why can I never say no. I don’t have the time to make 12 sets of chocolates. Let alone any gratitude chocolate for the art club boys. Oh no,” she shot back up. “I’m going to get at least 12 white day gifts.” her face ran pale as she hid in her hands. Yachi was in a downward spiral. “I’m going to get fat, my mother will tell me off. I can’t eat 12 sets of chocolates, 18 sets if I make them for the art club. Oh no, and what about Coach Ukai and Takeda-sensei! But then, I can’t leave Kiyoko to be the only one without a gift. So that’s 19, oh no, oh no, my mother is going to abandon me because I’m a glutton. And then-”

Yamaguchi placed a hand on her shoulder. “Yachi.” His voice was gentle. “Stop spiralling.” he gave her a small sympathetic smile. She pulled her hands away from her face, Yamaguchi placed his over hers to stop them shaking. “Breathe.” He helped her guide through a few breaths. In their little bubble it was like there were only the two of them in the classroom. Yachi let out a small embarrassed laugh.

“I’m sorry that I always stress in front of you.” She looked down shyly, unable to meet his gaze.

“Please don’t feel pressured about valentine’s day. I think it’s stupid.” Yamaguchi spoke honestly. He gazed down at their hands, still linked together. He hoped she wouldn’t break their closeness. “I can help you make the chocolates if you like?” he suggested. 

She smiled, tired. “You’re not allowed, it would be weird. ” Her eyes glanced quickly down and away from their hands. “Because, you’re a boy.”

Yamaguchi _tsk_ ’d subconsciously expressing a Tsukki-ism. “I don’t think it's fair girls have all this pressure to make gifts for guys, whether they like them or not. I don’t see why a guy can’t give a girl a gift on valentine’s day either.”

Yachi smiled fondly. She gently removed her hands from under his touch, it left Yamaguchi’s hands feeling cold. Yachi reached for her water bottle, and took a drink. “You’re really sweet Yamaguchi.” her voice filled him with such warmth. “I’ll ask Kiyoko-san if she has any free time, but if she has too much to do, I may need your help.”

He nodded, blushing hard at the fact she just called him _sweet_. “Of course I’ll help you.” he whispered back the response.

**13年 2月 7日**

It was officially now one week till valentine’s day. Project 2•14 was underway. Tanaka and Nishinoya ran after Kiyoko like they were her personal assistants. It was comical to watch their efforts, which included actually completing their homework. Sugawara had told Yamaguchi, Kiyoko had admitted to him that she did enjoy their antics. She said that truly brought a smile to her face every day.

Yamaguchi walked by himself, through the school corridors during the morning break. He opened the doors towards the staircase, and bumped into a girl carrying a stack of papers. He sent all the printouts, and her own belongings, flying down the stairs.

“I’m so sorry!” Yamaguchi profusely apologised for his carelessness. He gathered as much as he could for her. He looked up at the girl and realised it was in fact Yachi he had bumped into. “Yachi-san!” he cried, he bowed apologetically. “Yachi-san please forgive me.”

“It’s ok.” she forgave, as she dashed down the stairs to her runaway pencil case.

Yamaguchi noticed that most of the printouts were for class 3. “What are you doing with Kageyama’s class printouts?” he called down to her.

“Don’t start.” she fretted, annoyed at herself. “I’m too weak to say no to people.” Yachi made her way sadly back up to Yamaguchi. “Sensei asked if I could drop them off for him. He had a phone call to make, and he knows we’re always in there with the others.”

Yamaguchi had re-stacked most of the printouts. Yachi handed him the last of the runaway print outs. “I didn’t realise how many printouts he wanted me to carry at once.”

Yachi’s binder folder had come unclipped in the drop. Most of her clear files had saved her work from getting muddled up, but she now had to clip them all back in.

Yamaguchi loved looking at Yachi’s clear files. She always had so many cute Sanrio files, and today he could see she had a few Hatsune Miku files.

“Oh! Nice Miku clear file.” Yamaguchi passed the rest to her.

Yachi clipped her binder back together. “Thanks. You like Miku?” she asked.

Yamaguchi could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. “Tsukki always tells me it’s embarrassing to admit to liking vocaloid, but Miku is really cute.” he let out a laugh. “There’s some really cool musicians who use vocaloid, it’s fun.”

“Right?” Yachi agreed. “She’s so cute. I hope to see her in concert one day.” Yachi stood, taking half of the pile in her arms. Yamaguchi gathered the rest.

“Me too.” Yamaguchi stood to meet her.

“I could send you some links of my favourites to listen to if you like?” she hid her face into the pile of papers.

The wave of his crush bubbled up in his heart, and made him swoon. Yamaguchi longed to hear Yachi’s favourites. He held open the door, completely dumbstruck, unable to move as Yachi crossed the threshold back into the corridor. “That would be nice.” he put plainly, hoping to not come across as too eager.

She nodded back to him. “Oh,” she cleared her throat. “Kiyoko-san is unable to help me on the 12th. But Noya-san and Tanaka-san really believe Kiyoko-san is helping me make chocolates. I don’t have the heart to tell them she can’t.” she looked down, deflated.

“…Oh, no I think we should keep it that way.” Yamaguchi quickly considered. He tried to weigh up what would be worse, project 2•14 being helped along with a lie, or project 2•14 failing completely. “It’s best that they believe Kiyoko-san has made them chocolates. Don't tell anyone it was me who helped though.”

Yachi sang a laugh. “Ok. Let’s do that then Yamaguchi-kun.”

\--

Yamaguchi sat down at his desk after dinner, ready to do a little homework before bed. His phone ping’d with the sound of a message. Yamaguchi’s heart fluttered when he noticed the name. It was from Yachi.

> _Hey Yamaguchi-kun_ (⌒ω⌒)ﾉ
> 
> _Here’s my list of Miku tracks for you.(_ ﾉ´ ▽｀)ﾉ♪
> 
> _Sorry my taste is a little depressing. hehe_ ( >_<|||)
> 
> _Hope you have a lovely weekend_ (*^▽^*)y

Yamaguchi scanned through the links, picking out the songs he already knew, considering to himself: 

_Rolling Girl_

_Just Be Friends_

_Unhappy Refrain_

_Dear_

_Sayoko_

“Yachi,” he mumbled, and leaned forwards over his desk. “Some of these are so…… _sad._ ” he flipped his phone over, closing his eyes. “I never want you to feel sad…”

  
  


**13年 2月 9日**

On Saturday afternoons, Yamaguchi still visited Shimada-san for jump float serve practice. Even though he felt a lot more confident in his skill now, he wanted to remain as reliable as possible on the court. But today, Yamaguchi’s serves had been hitting the net more times than not. There was only one thing on Yamaguchi’s mind, and it wasn’t volleyball serves.

“Tadashi-san, your overall improvement is remarkable. But today you’ve been a little off.” Shimada pointed out. 

Yamaguchi hugged his volleyball into his chest, staring down. “I’ll try a little harder to concentrate, sorry.”

“Is there anything you want to talk about?” Shimada spoke with concern.

“It’s a bit embarrassing really.” Yamaguchi bit his lip, and made another serve. It clipped the top of the net.

“Is that so.” Shimada responded, which reassured Yamaguchi to keep speaking.

“It’s…” he whispered, not sure how to get his words across. “It’s about a girl I like.”

“Really,” Shimada raised an eyebrow. He tossed the ball back to Yamaguchi. “Is she cute?”

Yamaguchi flustered catching the ball. “Super cute. But she’s not just cute,” he assured. “She’s super intelligent, she makes me laugh, and she’s a really good friend.” he span the ball in his hands nervously. “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t such a coward, and that I could just confess to her.”

“Hey,” Shimada stopped him. “You’re not a coward Tadashi-kun. You need to give yourself more credit. A coward couldn’t have taken down the opponents you have.”

Yamaguchi felt self conscious. It felt a little weird to be praised so highly, but he guessed Shimada had a point. “I really want to give her a gift for valentine’s day. Even though I know I’m not allowed, because I’m a boy.”

“Well, Tadashi-kun if you would like to break tradition, the Shamida Mart sells all the supplies you need for a _sweet_ valentines day.” he chuckled to himself at the sweet pun.

Yamaguchi humoured him with a small laugh. “Yeh, she’s already really stressed about the idea of receiving too many white day chocolate gifts, I just wanna give her something nice, that isn’t chocolate.” Yamaguchi idly shuffled on the spot.

“Hmm,” Shimada pondered to himself. “Is this Yachi-san?”

Yamaguchi grimaced, squatting down into a little ball of embarrassment. He felt like his legs would cave in from being found out. “Yes.” Yamaguchi was blushing _hard_.

Shimada let out a laugh, and patted the bench for Yamaguchi to sit next to him. “This really reminds me of my wife and I, when we were young.” he smiled affectionately. “When my wife was at University, I would go visit her one weekend a month.” he started to speak with a nostalgic twinkle in his eyes. “It was a 6 hour drive from my parents house, and we always gave each other mixtapes whenever we met. I would put my new cassette tape from her in straight away driving back home, it made it a little easier to leave knowing that she was still with me for the journey. She said she listened to hers whenever she took a break from studying, and imagined me singing along with her.” Shimada mused. “I think that sharing your music with the one you love can be more special than any commercial gift.” His words danced in the air, full of the sentimentality of youth.

Yamaguchi’s mind wandered back to Yachi’s Miku recommendations. “Oh,” he uttered. “She sent me some music recommendations the other night. All of them made me want to recommend her less depressing stuff. Haaa.” 

“Well, that’s a start.” Shimada agreed. “Instead of giving her chocolate, you could make a mix CD for her. I won’t give you any of my recommendations though.” he laughed. “I don’t think Yachi-san is much of an Iron Maiden fan.”

Yamaguchi nodded. “Thanks, Shimada-san.” Yamaguchi rested his head back on the wall behind them. He watched the sky begin to set around them, contemplating the idea. Compiling songs that made him think of Yachi, whilst also confessing the feelings he couldn’t quite speak to her, he sighed… “Wish me luck, Shimada-san.”

**13年** **2月 11日**

It was a cold February morning that greeted them, when Tsukishima and Yamaguchi made their way to school. 3 days left for Yamaguchi to decide if he would give Yachi a gift. The idea had kept him up all night. Starting a new week knowing that by the end of it he would have confessed to the girl he’d had a super huge crush on since the first day they met. 

“Hey, Tsukki…” Yamaguchi spoke quietly, “Would you mind it if someone gave you a cd for valentine’s day?” Yamaguchi ran a hand through his hair nervously.

Tsukishima gave him an incredulous look. “It’d be a little weird.” He raised an eyebrow in a way that made Yamaguchi want to run home, and never come back to school. “You’re not thinking of making me listen to your girly music taste are you?” he scoffed. Yamaguchi turned bright red.

“No, nononononono.” Yamaguchi’s heart hammered, he placed a hand over it and hoped it wouldn’t fall out. “I mean…” he took a deep breath to steady himself once more. “Is it too weird, for a boy, to give a girl something for valentine’s day, not the other way around.”

“You’re interested in girls?” Tsukishima taunted. His teasing smirk made Yamaguchi nauseous.

“Shut up.” Yamaguchi punched Tsukishima’s arm, as hard as he could.

“Ow.” Tsukishima dramatised by rubbing at his arm. Tsukishima could tell Yamaguchi needed some assurance, and his expression had softened. “You know I don’t care at all about valentine’s day.” His voice was indifferent. “But, if you wanna give the person you like a gift you should just do it. Life is too short not to.”

Yamaguchi smiled sheepish. Even if Tsukishima was mean sometimes, the reassurance made Yamaguchi feel much more confident. “Thanks, Tsukki.”

“What are you thanking me for?” Tsukishima laughed. “Just don’t put anything lame on it,” he warned. “You want her to think you’re cool.”

Yamaguchi smiled a laugh, and lifted his head a little higher.

When the two of them reached the school gate, so had Yachi. Yachi waved at the boys, and it was like a love arrow had shot through Yamaguchi’s heart. Yachi was bundled up in her winter coat with an oversized yellow scarf, cute fluffy hello kitty earmuffs, and a striped bobble hat. She looked so cute and warm. How can one make dressing for the winter look so adorable? Yamaguchi could tell he was stupidly smiling back at her, and felt very self conscious about the 4 eyes smirking down at him.

“Good morning, Yamaguchi-kun, Tsukishima-kun.” Yachi greeted. She walked with them up to the gym. “Oh, Yamaguchi-kun.” Yachi started, “I don’t think I’ll have time to grab everything on my way home tonight. So we’ll probably need to buy the rest tomorrow. You are still ok to help tomorrow? Right?” Whilst Yachi stressed, Yamaguchi could feel the stupid grin on his face unwavering. 

“Yeh, I can still help out.” _I’ll do anything for you Yachi-san._

Before Yachi could stress out anymore, Hinata distracted her from the gym doors. He cried about something stupid, and called her over.

“I’ll see you two in a bit.” Yachi skipped off to check on Hinata.

“YEhh,” Yamaguchi babbled back. 

Tsukishima threw Yamaguchi a knowing raise of his eyebrows, when he pushed his glasses up.

Yamaguchi’s face went white. He was paralysed in his place. “Please don’t say anything!” he scream whispered.

Tsukishima laughed him off, rolling his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Tsukishima continued to walk away. “I’ll lend you a blank CD.”

Yamaguchi’s heart fluttered. He ran to catch up with Tsukishima’s long strides. “Thank you.”

“Stop thanking me, idiot.”

\--

After school, Yamaguchi headed straight to his room. He tossed his bag on the floor, and stared at his CD collection. Yamaguchi pulled them all off his shelves, and created several piles on the floor around him. There were too many possibilities to begin. Yamaguchi huffed. He picked up a copy of the Hannah Montana movie soundtrack. “What can I pick that makes me seem cool.” He set the CD down, and laid on his back. This was gonna be a long night.

**13年 2月 12日**

Yachi had suggested for Yamaguchi to come straight over to her apartment after school. Yamaguchi had packed some spare clothes to change into, rather than spend all night in his uniform. A sudden wave of anxiety about changing in Yachi’s house hit him. _Oh no, oh no…I can’t get undressed in a girl’s house._ He made the decision to change into his jeans, and taco shirt in the club room.

“Oi, oi oi. Yamaguchi.” Tanaka hollered. “Doing anything fun tonight?” Tanaka patted Yamaguchi on the back with such force that it brought up a nervous burp.

“Uhuuhuuh.” Yamaguchi was a terrible liar. He had no idea what to say. “I’m staying at a friend’s house tonight.” he nervously sweated. Tanaka ruffled his hair.

“UUwwaoooahaa!!!!” Hinata wailed from the other side of the room, half dressed. “I’m so jealous!!!” He sprinted over to Yamaguchi’s side to ruffle his hair like Tanaka just had. “I want to go on a sleepover. UUooouuu.” Yamaguchi tipped his head down so Hinata could reach.

“Shut up, boke.” Kageyama cursed. “You’re literally missing next Friday’s practice because you’re staying with Kenma for the weekend.” Kageyama threw an empty milk carton at the back of Hinata’s head.

“Owwwwwwwww.” Hinata pouted. “Yeh, but it’s not a sleepover on a _school night_.” he stressed. “I wish I was going to a sleepover on a school night. They’re so fun! It’s special!” Hinata spiked the carton back to Kageyama, which missed, and instead trickled milk droplets all over the club room floor.

Yamaguchi nervously laughed, and hoped his blushing cheeks were not visible. “Well, I’ll be off.” Yamaguchi grabbed his belongings quickly, and headed out. 

Yachi waited for him outside of the gym. She sat on the bench by the bike racks. Yamaguchi tried to psychically shake the anxiety out of his head. He wasn’t sleeping over at her house, he didn’t need to get anxious about sleeping in _Yachi’s room_. 

Yachi noticed him making his approach, and Yamaguchi’s heart melted at her smile.

“Yamaguchi-kun.” she stood up from the bench, and put on her backpack. “You ready?” 

Yamaguchi nodded. His words were tangled up in his throat.

“Let’s go.” Yachi giggled. She gently patted Yamaguchi on the shoulder.

“Oi, oi oi oi.” Tanaka’s voice bellowed from the top of the stairs, which led to the club room.

Yamaguchi, apprehensively looked over his shoulder. The whole team stared at him, and Yachi. The spot where Yachi had just patted him, shined like a beacon of misinterpretation. Nishinoya winked at him. Yamaguchi gulped, he felt stupidly self conscious. 

He kept his head down, and started to walk away. “We don’t wanna miss the train.”

They made their way to the main station where Yachi caught the train to school. On their way, Yachi told Yamaguchi about the supplies she already had, and then had recalculated that she needed a lot more chocolate, as well as to buy the boxes. She sighed. “Why is being considerate so expensive.”

Yamaguchi laughed with her. “Hey,” Yamaguchi had an idea, that might get his crush found out, but he just had to hope that no one would say anything. “Why don’t we detour to Shimada Mart? I'm sure Shimada-san would give us a discount. They have everything you need for a _sweet_ valentine’s day so I'm told.” Yamaguchi recited the corny joke written on Shimada’s posters. Yachi actually laughed at it.

Inside the shop, Yachi scurried around and gathered enough butter, heavy cream, and chocolate to make 120 truffles. 6 for each person, including the art club boys, Ukai, Takeda, Kiyoko, and a couple of spares. 

“Would you like me to get you a basket?” Yamaguchi offered Yachi, who was juggling her groceries.

“Please.” she squeaked. 

He brought the basket to her, the task at hand seemed a greater challenge than Yamaguchi had envisioned. “Do you have enough refrigerator space to cool these in time?”

Yachi stared at him helplessly. “I really hope so.” she frowned, dejected. “I still need to pick out some boxes. Have you seen anything good?”

“Y-you want my opinion?” Yamaguchi stuttered.

“Of course.” Yachi’s voice was as flustered as his. “I need a boy's opinion on something boring, that’s not overly romantic. I’m worried Tanaka-san and Noya-san will think Kiyoko has really given them honmei chocolate.”

Yamaguchi felt a little heavy hearted. If they weren’t getting honmei chocolates…neither was Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi stared at the small selection of boxes. Yamaguchi suddenly had an idea. Surely there was a box big enough to fit a CD inside of it. Yamaguchi tried to hide his blush whilst he picked up several plain, pink boxes. After he’d inspected them, he decided that once he took the compartments out, it should fit a CD inside. He placed 20 in the basket, hoping Yachi wouldn’t notice the extra box. “These come with 50% off ribbon and paper cases.” he justified the choice to her.

Yachi smiled at him in thanks. She passed the heavy basket to him. “Thanks Yamaguchi-kun, I already have ribbon at home. But, you can start ringing these through whilst I grab some paper cases.” She already looked tired, and they hadn't started the making process yet.

Shimada-san had been watching them shop. He greeted Yamaguchi with a knowing look. Similar to the smile that Tsukishima had thrown him the other morning. Yamaguchi felt nauseous. The whole world knew about his crush on Yachi, except for Yachi herself. 

Shimada totalled and bagged up their items for them.

“Please don’t tell me how much this costs.” Yachi winced, holding her purse close to her chest.

“So the final total comes to 9612.64¥” Yachi began to cry. “But because it’s you two.” Shimada winked knowingly at Yamaguchi. “I’ll do it for 6000¥.”

Yachi wiped a tear from her eye, and sadly handed over all the cash in her purse to Shimada. “Thank you so much Shimada-san. I owe you.”

He shook his head, and handed them their shopping bags. “Don’t mention it. I'll have to discount it all soon anyway. You two have a _sweet_ valentine’s day.”

Yachi laughed at the joke once again. Yamaguchi sighed. It wasn’t even funny the first time.

—

Yamaguchi had to admit to himself. Making truffles was a lot of fun. The best part was certainly licking the bowl afterwards. Yachi giggled when he had lifted his face from the bowl, it was plastered with spots of chocolate mix. 

The biggest downside, aside from the 2 hours they needed to wait before they could start their production line of creating 120 balls of hell, was their physics homework. It was the fastest Yamaguchi had ever completed his homework. The idea of spending a whole night with Yachi and all they did was homework was the dullest nightmare he’d ever dreamed.

“Yamaguchi-kun you really are a math genius.” Yachi praised him, and copied down his answers.

Yamaguchi’s heart fluttered, he felt so comfortable being by Yachi’s side. Yamaguchi really hoped she felt the same way.

There was still an hour to go before the truffle mix would be set enough to form. “Did you want to watch something while we eat?” Yamaguchi suggested. Yachi had put some frozen french fries into the oven. Yamaguchi was sure Yachi knew they were his favourite food, but he didn't want to admit it in case it was just a coincidence. 

“That sound’s fun.” She grinned, and set a timer. “I don’t have many DVDs but,” Yachi showed Yamaguchi to her room. “My DVDs live on this shelf.” she pointed to the bottom of her bookcase. “You can pick out something fun, whilst I finish cleaning up.”

Yamaguchi had not been inside Yachi’s room yet. He felt very out of place, like he had intruded. But she had given him permission to be here alone.

It was clean and tidy, as he would have expected. A minimal aesthetic, with her walls painted pastel pink. Her bookshelf was crammed full of books, manga, and CDs. Yamaguchi was more interested in the CDs than the DVDs he was supposed to be looking at. Yachi had CDs of all kinds. Ranging from classical, and opera compilations. Japanese rock and western rock like My Chemical Romance, Death Cab for Cutie, Jimmy Eat World. Japanese and western pop like Shakira and Rhianna. But also artists like Sigur Rós, Bjork, and Kate Bush. “Hmm…” he pondered. Yamaguchi looked up to see a shelf of expensive Miku figures. Yachi had a lot of cool stuff.

“Hey,” Yachi popped her head into the room, “picked anything?”

Yamaguchi suddenly snapped back to Earth. His eye caught a DVD of Kiki’s Delivery Service. “What about Kiki's Delivery Service?” he asked.

Yachi blushed. “I love Kiki’s Delivery Service.” 

Yachi set up the DVD in the living room, and the two of them sat together, and shared a huge pile of fries. The sofa in Yachi’s living room was small, cosy. Yamaguchi’s shoulder was pressed against hers, Yachi’s warmth radiated through his side. This was nice, this was enough.

Hinata had a point, doing sleepover things on a school night really were special.

After the film ended, it was time to get to work. The hours slipped away, into a chocolate making production line, accompanied by My Chemical Romance’s entire discography. Half way through Yachi joked that Gerard Way deserved the spare chocolate more than she did.

Yamaguchi placed the last truffle ball onto the tray. “We’re done.” he huffed. His eyes were tired, his nose tickled with cocoa powder dust. He laid on the floor, outstretching his arms defeated.

Yachi applauded, cheering wearily. “Oh my! It’s gotten so late.” Yachi exclaimed. The time was almost midnight. It would take Yamaguchi about an hour and a half to get home. If he was lucky he could get into bed for 2am, which left him 4 hours of sleep. That is, if he managed to fall asleep straight away. It was feasible, but maybe not practical. Yachi nervously picked at her nails, she didn’t take her eyes off the kitchen clock. “Did you maybe,” she mumbled. “Did you want to sleepover?”

Yamaguchi could feel that the world had stopped. He had certainly forgotten what it was like to breathe. The wave of anxiety he’d shaken off earlier was back in full force. He was staying the night…at a girls house…a girl who he reaaaalllyyyy liked.

“A sleepover.” Yamaguchi squeaked. He was still laid on the floor, unable to move. “Is that ok?” Yamaguchi was sure his heart would spew out of his mouth if he wasn’t careful. “Would your mum be ok with a boy staying over?” he breathed out quickly.

Yachi looked down at Yamaguchi, her face was as red as his. “She won’t get home for another half hour, and I leave before her in the morning. She would never notice.” Yachi shook. 

The two of them were a nervous wreck.

Yamaguchi couldn’t stop the laugh that formed between his lips over the way they both handled situations. “I’ll stay.”

Yachi found a pair of sweatpants she'd ordered too large by accident. The company wouldn't take returns on sale items, and so they sat at the bottom of her wardrobe, as a symbol to never order cheap clothes online late at night. 

Yamaguchi decided to wear his taco shirt to bed rather than accept anything else from Yachi. He needed his bumbling idiot brain not to freak out over the smell of her laundry softener. 

Yachi had set out a spare futon for him in the middle of the room. "I don't have any spare pillows, but I do have this purin-chan.” Yachi laughed as she picked up, and handed the giant yellow plush of Pompompurin to Yamaguchi. 

Yamaguchi squished Purin-chan's fluffy ears. "Sorry for using you like a pillow." He hugged the plush. 

Yachi had a rosy blush on her cheeks. "You two are so cute together." She joked, taking a photo of them on her phone. 

Yamaguchi hid his own blush behind Purin-chan for the photo. 

Tonight had been so fun, exhausting, but fun. Yachi was such a great friend, he felt so lucky to know her. 

Yamaguchi turned the bedroom light off. He settled down in the futon, and hugged Purin-chan tight to his chest, rather than using him as a pillow. 

His mind raced. When he woke up, there would only be 1 day left till valentine's day. Yamaguchi didn't want to imagine what it would be like if he ruined his friendship with Yachi just to satisfy his own selfish pride. He kept his fingers crossed. _I really hope you like my back._

  
  


**13年 2月 14日**

The morning of the 14th, Yachi had hatched the plan to school extra early. Tsukishima had told Yamaguchi to politely “fuck off” when Yamaguchi asked if he would get the bus with him an hour and a half before they usually did. Despite all her plans to be the first ones at school. Kageyama, and Hinata were already in the gym. Tanaka, was also there. It seemed he had been too excited to sleep. So he’s headed to school early to open the gym for his restless kohai. 

Yamaguchi yawned. “Do those two ever sleep?” He commented on Hinata and Kageyama’s boundless morning energy; they were fueled only by their need to be better than the other. 

“They sleep during class.” Yachi laughed, quietly. They snuck up to the club room to hide the chocolates. 

Yamaguchi had also not had a lot of sleep last night either. He’d stayed up all night finalising his playlist, and had fallen asleep burning it onto the disc Tsukishima had given him. His head pounded, he had no idea when to give Yachi the CD. Or if he would have the balls to do it at all. 

Yachi had written cards for everybody, which Kiyoko had signed, to go along with the chocolate gift. Yamaguchi had suggested leaving the boxes in the cupboards everyone used to store their stuff, rather than leaving them somewhere in the gym.

“Thanks again for helping out.” Yachi smiled sleepily. “I think it’s sweet everyone will think Kiyoko-san has helped me make these, but it was you.” She giggled. “I’m happy I didn’t have to burden Kiyoko-san, and she can also benefit from the extra excitement of the day. Making everything the other night was really fun. I really couldn't have gotten this done without you.” Yachi placed the last chocolate box in Daichi’s cupboard, and grinned. “We’re done.” she sang. Yachi leant down and picked the last box from her bag. “The last one.” she outstretched her hands to Yamaguchi, and grinned. “Happy valentine’s day, Yamaguchi-kun.” The box she offered to him had a different ribbon to everyone else’s. It was high quality red satin like ribbon, held together by a neat bow. The box was also covered in cute flower stickers. There was a note card attached to the box. 

Yachi had written.

_**Tadashi-kun.** Happy Valentine’s Day. Love from **Hitoka.** _

Yamaguchi quickly dived his shaking hands into his school bag, and presented Yachi with her box, mimicking her stance. “This is for you.” his jaw was chattering, he was full of adrenaline. He squeezed his eyes shut. “Happy valentine’s day, Yachi-chan.”

Yamaguchi had attached a note card of his own that read.

**_Hitoka-chan._ **

_the music you listen to is too sad,_

_it doesn’t reflect the person you are to me_

_and how you make me feel when I am with you._

_with you the world shines so much brighter._

_I hope your light never stops shining_

_love **Tadashi.** _

♥︎

**Author's Note:**

> waaaaa~~~~~ thank you for reading!!!!
> 
> i'm sorry for leaving it so open!!!!!! of course Yachi says yes!!!!!! he think it's unrequited but Yamaguchi!!!she loves you too!!!!!!!!!! 
> 
> I apologise for my own personal headcanon that yachi listens to vocaloid became so much of the plot but look, its 2013 and miku cool as heck.  
> I tried waaayy too hard to make the playlist canon timeline compliant so everything on the playlist is realistic enough to have been truly from 2013!! I am now a music archeologist lol  
> The playlist really came into its own when I found the hsm soundtrack on spotify with japanese titles……but they're just the normal english songs, i thought it was so funny.
> 
> Ok and I really want to say that I worked the pricing for Yachi's shopping using how much ingredients/boxes/bun cases cost in sainsburys supermarket in the uk, then i currency converted them to yen, and ouch poor yachi. the price of gratitude is high. at least the boys have to spend 3x the amount on her for white day. hahahaaaaa
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed reading!!!!!!!!! Please feel free to listen to the playlist!!!!!!!!


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